>>since filming ended, slappy has been sentenced to 30 years for the muder of the food vendor. travieso was caught and is serving 15 years for attempted homicide. charlie remains on the street. he has recently become a father.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. good to see you this morning and welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you all the way across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. bringing up to date on all of the news of the day. president obama is back at the white house and he will be back at work in just a couple of hours together with all members of the white house press corps back from florida the white house, meanwhile has released its own outline for comprehensive immigration reform. and on the gun safety front "the new york times" reporting there is growing bipartisan support in congress both for legislation to tighten up the background checks so that they apply in all cases and also for a ban on high-capacity magazines. how about it? lots going on.

we'll get into all of that. first, let's get the latest, today's current news update, lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa, good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. a little bit more on the president's schedule today. this is brand new coming from the white house this morning. president obama will address the nation to take action on avoiding those automatic budget cuts scheduled to hit next friday. president obama will be joined by emergency responders during his speech. the white house says these are the kinds of working americans whose jobs will be on the line if congressional republicans fail to find a balanced solution to the sequester. that's the hot topic in washington right now. the sequester is the spending half of those tax hikes and spending cuts we talked about during the fiscal cliff. starting march 1st, the nation is facing across-the-board cuts taking place over the next ten years. in total, that amounts to $1.2 trillion and it means hundreds of thousands of jobs on the line

and less funding for the military fema, other emergency personnel and state and local grants. now, these cuts actually should have already taken effect but congress and the president keep giving themselves extensions so they can keep negotiating. the deadline is less than two weeks away and the president says he has a plan to reduce the deficit and save money without taking a toll on the middle class. that would include some additional taxes for the wealthy including those making over $1 million a year. but congressional republicans say they do not want to close those loopholes that right now benefit the rich. more bill press is am could go up after the break. stay with us.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. presidents' day is over. get back to work. hello, everybody. what do you think? just kidding. we were working yesterday. i know probably most of you were too. even if you were working at home. great to see you today. it is tuesday, the day after presidents' day. tuesday, february 19th. this is the "full court press." we're coming to you live all the way across this wonderful wonderful, great land of ours, united states of america. every corner of it. coming to you from our studio on capitol hill in washington, d.c. our radio factory, of it factory and book factory here right in the shadow of the capitol dome. bringing you up to date on all of the stories of the day and giving us -- you a chance to sound off. you can say i disagree with that

or agree with that, you can do so by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. we'll look forward to hearing from you and get as many of you as we can on the air. also we invite you to join us, follow us and tweet us on twitter at bpshow. that's our tag our handle, at bp show. follow us on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. and we're back on current tv today. so on current tv, the chat room is always going on and you can go to current.com click on the chat room and you're in with your fellow "full court pressers" across this great land of ours. our team, full team back today. even our videographer back today. we have peter ogborn and dan henning of course, phil backert on the phones. >> hey hey. >> bill: we were all on the job yesterday. cyprian --

>> cyprian slept in. >> bill: but to be fair -- >> afternoon before he sent me his first text. >> bill: no current no cameras, no cyprian. so why not take the day off right? good to have all of you back. sad news on the sports front coming from l.a. i know what a giant he was and a great community leader, owner of the lakers died yesterday at the age of 80. he was known for being especially close especially attentive to the players. as magic johnson remarked yesterday in a wonderful tribute. >> he took me and he knew that i was away from my family. here's a guy who signed with them, at that time, i was 19 years old. he knew i was close to my father. so he actually became my second father. >> bill: of course, number one lakers fan, oh man jack nicholson, right always there. every game. right up-front.

magic says that's jerry did it for the fans. >> he loved winning for the fans of l.a. and it wasn't for him. it was for the fans of l.a. that man, he would do anything to win championships for the people of l.a. i hope that this city and i know the organization will honor him and i hope the nba the league will honor him. >> bill: you know they will. there will be a great tribute in los angeles. >> he was an incredible owner. when you think of all of the championships he saw come down. >> bill: a real positive presence in the community and beloved presence in los angeles. an owner unlike dan snyder here in washington whom everybody hates. you know, with good reason. he's an a-hole. >> i was watching espn yesterday. it was interesting how they showed he sort of created this show time. they call it show time in l.a. because it was a real party atmosphere. you weren't just going to watch

a sporting event, you were going to watch a party event. he sort of pioneered that in the nba. >> bill: you walk around the streets of washington, d.c. and try to find somebody who would have anything nice to say about dan snyder, right? >> you would have a really hard time. even long-time fans of the team. >> bill: the only people who would have anything nice to say are the people who get invited to sit in his box, the same people every game. they love him. everybody else hates him. even the players. hey, we've got -- lot going on today. so igor volsky, it's tuesday. igor volsky from think progress will be along as always to bring us up to date on what think progress is working on. we're excited to welcome back our favorite republican commentator to the show, who says we're not fair and balanced rich galen who runs that blog, founded a blog called mullings.com will be here to bring us up to date on the

goings on on the republican party. and then david jackson will be joining us from the white house to tell us why white house. >> reporter: s are all upset today -- why. >> reporter: s the republican party has found their savior. she's going to save them. >> on this tuesday other headlines making news, burger king had itself a whopper of a problem yesterday. the fast food chain's twitter account got hacked and made the company look like it had been bought by mcdonald's. then tweeted several obscene and ridiculous items before twitter suspended the account. mcdonald's tweeted it had emphasized with the competitor and assured the public it had nothing to do with the hacking. burger king has yet to release a statement. they're staying silent. >> it was pretty ridiculous. and i don't know how it went on for as long as it did. i mean it was a span of a couple

of hours yesterday. i mean you would think that -- publications had time to write stories about the fact that mcdonald's -- that burger burger king's account had been hacked. so in the time it knock for that to happen, they couldn't get it to stop. >> hillary clinton is barely moved out of the state department and she's already on to her next project. >> running for president. >> former secretary of state has joined an agency and will start giving paid speeches. just like everyone in washington does. while she's expected to earn over six figures per speech, she will reportedly not charge for speeches for causes she supports and will donate a lot of her speaking fees to charity. >> bill: all i have to say is as one who is a paid speaker myself, hillary clinton welcome to the club. the water's fine. i want everybody out there looking for a speaker if you can't afford hillary -- i come cheap. >> you don't charge six figures?

>> bill: no. i'll take high-fives. >> speaking of six figures the bomber jacket that john f. kennedy wore while flying on air force i sold for big money. the presidential jacket with the presidential seal was expected to earn no more than $40,000 but bidding over the weekend purchase pushed the price to $655,000. it was part of a collection by his long-time aide who passed away 15 years ago. they sold off the estate and the collection. >> that should be in smithsonian. >> i agree. >> bill: not in some private collector's closet. >> how cool to have a leather bomber jacket with the presidential seal on the back. >> bill: here we go. here's the question to you really. what is the republican party up

to and what are they thinking? they look like -- and i say this as a democrat. we'll get into this with rich galen later too. they still look like a bunch of losers today. a losing party more than ever. so just the last couple of days, right, announced yesterday, mike johans who is a freshman republican senator from nebraska, he's ending -- nearing the end of his cycle. he's not going to run for re-election. it opens up the seat in nebraska. not an easy state for democrats but not impossible. ask bob kerrey. yesterday -- so that's one loser. how about this. in south carolina yesterday about a week ago mark sanford former governor, yes appalachian trail mark, right announced that he is going to

make a comeback. he's running for congress and he released yesterday his first ad saying yes i have sinned, dear lord but god will give me another chance if you will. the people of south carolina. here's this soppy ad. >> washington's math doesn't add up. for years, while many have talked, i fought to do something about it. i've cut spending, reduced debt and made government more accountable. more recently, i've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. but in their wake, we can learn a lot about grace, a god of second chances and be the better for it. in that light i humbly step forward and ask for your help in changing washington. i'm mark sanford and i approve this message. >> bill: i do so in jesus' name amen. doesn't he sound like a preacher from the pulpit. yeah, we all believe in the god of second chances. so did jimmy swigert.

>> my lord. >> he should put that in his campaign ad. >> bill: he should. yeah that's what mark sanford says. you're a south carolinian -- are they that dumb? >> yeah, they are. yeah, they are. you know, here's what i will say about mark sanford. i know -- i think that people will forgive mark sanford because it is sort of a -- it's not like he was going to prostitutes. it is not like he was stealing money. he just fell in love with somebody else. >> bill: yeah. >> even in moral south carolina, they'll probably forgive him. >> bill: he hiked all the way from south carolina to brazil. appalachian trail. another -- on the other loser front, we've been kvetching and bitching and complaining for the last week or so about john mccain, you know, loser from 2008 who is still the face of

the republican party. you never see mitt romney. talk about a loser. but mccain and they keep putting him out there on the sunday shows every sunday, every show. every day every show. overexposure for a guy who's got nothing more -- nothing to say anymore. and talk about people who have nothing to say anymore, here's the big one. cpac conservative political action committee which has its huge gathering of conservatives it is a big event here in washington, d.c., every year in march. this year, yesterday they announced the headliner the keynote speaker for this year's cpac event, sarah palin. >> no! >> bill: talk about the number one loser. here she is, four years ago -- i'm sorry, last year at cpac -- >> at the 1975cpac, he laid out a blueprint for rebuilding the

g.o.p. under a banner of full color. and ever since then, cpac has been the rally for conservative action and that's why i'm glad to be here today with all of you conservative activists. >> bill: yeah. the people just love -- and here's the enemy. the enemy is the environmental protection agency. >> it is enslaving us well. dangerous supplies of energy, instead of capping into our own god-given sources of energy here underfoot, that's what the e.p.a. is all about right now. you have to ask yourself when was the last time you saw the e.p.a. prevent constructing say a new government building? maybe instead of calling washington a swamp, we should call it a wetland. maybe that will slow down the growth of government.

>> bill: oh such -- an empty head, right? and cpac is headlining her. so here's my question. 1-866-55-press. why sarah palin? i mean come on. she lost in 2008. republicans lost in 2008. not just because barack obama ran a better campaign but because sarah palin dragged the ticket down. she lost for the republican party in 2008. she quit. she wasn't defeated. she quit in the middle of her term after serving only two and a half years as governor of alaska loser. she was fired by fox news, loser. i mean she couldn't even get her old job as a beauty queen back anymore and cpac has her as a headliner. i don't get it. why bring her back? tell me, why, sarah palin? and what impact does she have? what influence does she possibly

have? what power does she possibly have? what good could she possibly do and does anybody really care? if they really want somebody who's going to set him on fire and show he's the promise of the republican party how about chris christie from new jersey? he's got 70% approval rating. why isn't he the headliner at cpac. 1-866-55-press. let's get into it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right. 25 minutes after the hour now. igor volsky from think progress

joining us next, for the next half hour to talk about issues. we're talking about cpac. of all people, of all people, right, sarah palin will be their headliner. next month. well, lots of luck with that. >> we're tweeting at bpshow at bpshow. jean says bill, she only served about 18 months as governor of alaska. >> bill: i thought it was two and a half. >> her 15 minutes are over. shannon moore says oh please, she can't even come back to alaska. october beauty says she has been trying to make a buck. she is irrelevant and was overrated. find us at bpshow. >> bill: by the way i thought -- isn't it funny. wasn't it last week, i thought marco rubio was the savior of the republican party. >> who? >> bill: right. or maybe that has proven to be a first class a-hole,ed at the cruz from texas.

even republican senators said ted cruz is over the line. lindsey graham and john mccain talk about losers, have both said that ted cruz and couple of others, too republicans have said he's gotta cool his jets a little bit here. you would think chris christie, marco rubio no, sarah palin. who's going to follow her anymore? right? >> i don't understand it. i don't know why they can't suck it up and say we have to move on from bad ideas and go on to better ideas. >> bill: is she the best that the republican party has? glen up in hartford, connecticut. what do you say? >> caller: good morning, bill. how do youing? >> bill: i'm good. >> caller: i think you got the wrong idea here. i'm ecstatic she's going to speak. everybody -- it is back to the same ole same ole. they're in disarray. >> bill: you betcha. >> caller: they throw out rubio even paul ryan.

they haven't shown me anything -- the only one they've got than maybe relate to a normal person is maybe chris christie. they can't relate to normal people in the united states. >> bill: i think that's why christie is so popular in new jersey. he's been totally wrong on public employees and on the teachers and on other issues. but you gotta admit christie comes across as an average guy. >> caller: absolutely. >> bill: he says what he thinks. he'll say anything just about. >> i don't agree with all of his policies. >> bill: he's got a weight problem which we all have. people can identify with him. you can't identify with sarah palin getting a million dollars a year from fox for saying nothing. >> caller: it is funny she's going to speak. i think it's great. >> bill: it is funny glen. appreciate the call. good to hear from you. up in the nutmeg state. but it's sad. it's sad to me, for the republican party. and it just shows sad -- they

really don't have any good ideas. look at marco rubio's response to the state of the union. it was so blah, right? it was nothing new in it. not one fresh idea. it was a speech that could have been given by mitt romney. the same -- >> it was his stump speech. it was romney's stump speech. >> bill: the same old lies. i'm telling you the way they're going, they could cease to be a major party. sarah palin will take them right down the toilet. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. whoa, on a tuesday february 19. told you many times if you really want to know what's going on and what it all mines what it's all -- what it all means what it's all about, the place to go is think progress. they post every minute something new. you have to check it several times a day. thinkprogress.org. and one of the leaders who keeps it going deputy editor igor volsky in studio with us again this morning as he is every tuesday. >> good morning. >> bill: tuesdays with igor. good to see you. so we have to ask you i mean the biggest story of the entire presidents' day weekend is the asteroid. >> oh, my goodness. >> bill: did you find any nuggets in your backyard? >> i looked and looked, still

looking. going to go back after this and look some more. >> bill: you just thought they hit russians -- >> it follows all of the russians everywhere. >> bill: front page new york times this morning. russians wade into the snow to seek treasure from the sky. here's this woman. she found a little rock about that big. and she is selling it for $100 million euros. >> that's only like $3. >> bill: i'm not sure she'll get that. but a story about another woman that a rock went through a roof, outbuilding in her garden or something. she found it. guy came to her door, offered her $60. that's not enough. he offered her $230 which she took. an hour later, a guy pulled up and offered her $1300. >> hold out. always have to hold out.

>> bill: on more important things on presidents' day you took a look, not it at the greatest presidents but at some of the most overrated. >> well, yeah. >> bill: five of them, huh? >> those presidents we hear a lot about. they're on our money in our history books. but what did they actually do? are they that great? we have a list of about five here. let me tell you quickly. andrew jackson. ronald reagan. >> bill: he was the populous. he lost once and came back and won. >> well, he was a fighter but he, i think hurt one too many people if you ask me, of americans. you have ronald reagan, of course. popular one among the progressives. >> bill: but so overrated. >> even gets his own airport. i still call it national. >> bill: so do i. >> woodrow wilson who -- you know, has a mixed record and by some is considered a good president. >> bill: inept. >> inept.

had his problems with racial issues, signed a bill banning interracial marriage here in d.c. for instance. thomas jefferson which is, you know, somewhat of a controversial list, person on our history here. but may have -- you know, kind of breathed life into what is now the -- certainly his small role of government fighting, federalism and last -- >> bill: by the way -- >> yeah? >> bill: here we go. for the record, he's my least favorite president. i think they should tear down the thomas jefferson monument and if he were alive today, he would be executed for treason for what he did as vice president against john adams. >> not a jeffersonian. >> bill: let me lay that out there. >> shots fired. >> bill: he did some good things but not to mention his personal record with sally hemmings. just in terms of -- vice president, he was undercutting

working against secretly the president of the united states. treason! >> heavy charge. wow. wow. >> not like thomas jefferson could do anything about it. >> bill: replace it with a john adams monument. >> john adams got his own mini series so in the end he won. >> bill: john adams signed the aliens act. >> mixed record, these guys. >> why must you tear down my heroes. >> who is your fifth one? >> james madison good ole james madison -- >> bill: jimmy they call him. >> i call him jimmy too. he had constitutional problems which, if you believe him then some of our most popular programs today like medicare, social security, are unconstitutional. >> bill: i'll tell you one thing, he refused to sign a declaration of a day of prayer

and said that was not the business of the federal government. i'm sure that james madison nor thomas jefferson by the way, together they wrote the religious freedom -- the exact name for the state of virginia. which really is the basis of our separation of church and state. neither one of them would attend a national prayer breakfast as president of the united states. i can tell you that. >> especially now. >> bill: on the issues that are still alive in the state -- in the state of the union president obama talked about -- which i thought was something -- how could anybody be against this? universal preschool so every kid in america, not just the kids whose parents can afford to send them to preschool, every kid would have that advantage of pre-k education. not everybody is for it. first of all so jerry willis is a commentator for fox business. yesterday, she said it's not

only a bad idea, it is -- here she is. >> no doubt about it. and i have to tell you i think it's immoral. to make all of these promises when you know at the end of the day, we can't afford it. to say preschool for everybody. are you kidding me? we don't have the money for that. he also promises mortgage assistance. $3,000 for everybody. this is just crazy talk and i think it is immoral to put this across as something that's do-able when it's not. >> bill: really? immoral to make sure all of our kids have the best possible education starting in preschool? >> you know, we didn't know preschool was immoral until obama came out for it. then is immoral and wrong and all kinds of crazy. >> to be fair, have you ever hung out with preschool kids? just sayin'. i have one at home. he's a pretty immoral kid. >> bill: i would argue it's immoral not to provide preschool for every kid in america. >> you look at the signs and the likelihood of going to college decreasing dropout rates decreasing teen pregnancies, all

linked to investing in children early on, the earlier you invest in a child the more likely they are to become meaningful, productive adults. and the opposition here is really shocking because this is going to be a program that's a partnership with the states. the state of the union that's what it's looking like. we don't have all of the details. it is modeled on states like georgia, oklahoma. these aren't liberal states. these are conservative states that have had success there. >> bill: two states that the president hailed as making great strides in this area. so she's on fox business. maybe she doesn't know what she's talking about. you would think a member of the united states congress like marsha blackburn from tennessee would know what she's talking about. she's against it, too, for a different reason. >> i think so many of our educators, when they hear these programs coming from the federal government, they're just thinking that's another book of

paperwork. that i'm going to have to do and teachers are so weighed down with that. >> boo paperwork. >> well, you know -- >> bill: fill out more forms. for her that would be a problem. >> at this rate, we're going to have to have a whole new vertical on the web site, marsha blackburn because did you see this on msnbc, she was rallying against the minimum wage. increasing it to $9 saying we don't need the minimum wage because back when i was a kid, i used to make $2 an hour. of course, to inflate that, it is about $12 today. >> bill: she actually inadvertently made the case for raising the minimum wage to $12. >> marsha blackburn everyone. >> bill: to $12 an hour. so immigration reform. everybody thinks that this is the issue that has the wind in its sails because the president is for it. bipartisan group of senators are

for it. bipartisan groups of house members are for it. newt gingrich says ain't gonna happen. why? >> because it has obama's name on it and republicans won't sign anything with obama's name on it. it is a real problem for the white house now. the report came out in "usa today" on sunday, i believe draft proposal. he's always had a draft proposal. he said, after he won the election that if they don't -- congress is going to act he's going to introduce his own bill. you look at the reports of the draft, they mirror closely the 2007 bill. bipartisan bill with mccain on it and kennedy and kyle. who's now not in the senate anymore from arizona. supported by george w. bush. now, it's a problem for everybody. rubio put out a statement immediately saying it is dead on arrival. all of the republicans coming out against it. so the white house is trying to backpedal a bit saying we're going to provide space for congress to do this but if they don't act, we're going to have

our own bill. >> bill: i think newt is correct to this extent. it does seem that any good idea, if president obama supports it, even good ideas that republicans once proposed, if president obama embraces it, suddenly they turn against. >> we have 64 republicans supported the minimum wage increase under bush. now they're against it under obama. it is a knee-jerk reaction. doesn't matter what the idea is. >> bill: igor volsky here from think progress with so much to talk about. okay. including the comments on thomas jefferson. so, about the most overrated presidents about preschool and about immigration reform and other issues of the day. 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen own current tv, this is the "bill press show." going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing

that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: you got it. 13 minutes before the top of the hour. david jackson covers the white house for "usa today." will join us at the top of the next hour. to get into the big uproar among the white house press corps over the fact that they were blacked out, couldn't get any pictures of president obama during his entire presidents' day man-case down at the floridian yacht and golf course near west palm beach. i think they call it the treasure coast. anyhow, white house press corps raising hell.

i'm one of them. david jackson will join us to talk about that at the top of the next hour. >> you've heard about identity theft. there is a version called friendly fraud. that's when your identity is stolen by a friend or a close relative. a case down in florida i believe, no, in new york. police have arrested a woman for using a -- one of her relative's information. name date of birth and social security opening up a credit card in her relative's name and spending $500 on the card before she was caught by authorities and arrested. there it is again. another version of identity theft. you should be protected against it. to be safe as i am with lifelock ultimate, the most comprehensive i.d. theft protection ever made. lifelock can't protect you or your bank account if you're not a member. call now and mention press 60. you'll get 60 risk-free days of

lifelock ultimate identity protection. if you're not happy with that, call lifelock within another 60 days for a full refund. see lifelock.com for details. give them a call at 1-800-356-5967 for lifelock ultimate. igor volsky, deputy editor of think progress, thinkprogress.org in studio with us. as he is every tuesday morning. peter's got his eye on the social media. >> bill, when i was growing up in south carolina, we lived with one saying. thank god for mississippi because we would have been last in education if it weren't for mississippi. and we said it for reasons like this. there was a gentleman by the name of ron jon batra who lives in mississippi. he watched the movie lincoln. he got to wondering what ever happened to the states that rejected ratifying the amendment to abolish slavery.

new jersey delaware, kentucky and mississippi all rejected it. in the years past, new jersey -- >> bill: delaware did? i didn't know that. >> new jersey, delaware, kentucky, all fixed that. they went on to say yes slavery is bad. we reject it. mississippi never did. >> bill: no! >> but they have fixed it, bill. they have fixed it. slavery is officially abolished in the state of mississippi as of this month. so there! >> bill: how about sodomy? >> i'm sure that's outlawed there. i'm sure that's still outlawed there. >> bill: no more slavery in mississippi. all 50 states. >> welcome to the 21st century. >> bill: we're so proud of mississippi. >> thank god for mississippi. >> bill: that didn't happen under haley barbour. >> in 1995, there was a state resolution that was introduced that ratified the amendment and it passed. but the secretary of state never

actually filed and finished it. so it just sat there. so you know, you've gotta follow through all of the steps to make it legit. they never did. >> bill: laboratories of democracy. that's what we call it. >> parks and recreation. >> it really does. >> bill: we were talking about one of the issues, you have been reporting on, preschool universal preschool education. mary is calling from colorado. hi mary, good morning. >> caller: hi, good morning. thanks for taking my call, bill. i'm a great believer in separation of church and state and i would like to hope and i'm not too naive about this, i hope, that it would be based on children in public school systems rather than these faith-based voucher-type programs. >> bill: absolutely. i think that's what we're talking about. not, you know, using vouchers to go to religious schools. we're talking about public schools, mary. >> caller: you can put them in

preschool and then if you don't have good follow-up with good teachers smaller class size, you're going to lose them whether it's second grade third grade, ninth grade what have you. it has to be part of -- a comprehensive program with good curriculum. good teachers being brought back. counselors, this kind of thing to take you on through until the kids get to do what they want to do whether it is trade school, college or what have you. >> bill: i couldn't agree more. igor, i've heard people say talk about like -- the defense department budget, right. that the greatest investment we could make in our national security is to educate our kids. give our kids the best possible education. preschool. k-12. and college, right? >> we talked about economic growth. reducing crime, all of these issues are interconnected. research shows the younger you invest, the better the results the bigger bang for your buck. a dollar invested, $11 return.

$7 return. time to have that conversation the fact that republicans can't even come to the table and have a good faith discussion, that's the sad part. >> bill: i thought one of the most innovative things in the president's state of the union we have to run when he talked about even at the high school level making sure kids graduate from high school, how the high tech skills, computer skills, right, so they can get jobs in the high tech industries today. hopefully they're going to college and get even better trained, right? and better education. but even at that level that they've got some of the skills the companies are looking for today. >> bill: what are you working on now at think progress? i know you're on your way to work. >> lots of things happening. he's going to talk about the sequester today the president doing something about that. republicans haven't even passed the replacement bill. democrats have a solution. he's going to be talking about if the cuts go in on march 1st, all of the first responders, they're going to take a hit. he will be surrounded at 10:35

this morning with first responders saying we can't let these cuts go into effect. it is going to devastate communities. >> bill: follow it all on thinkprogress.org with igor volsky and team over there. >> thanks, guys. >> bill: we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. my favorite entree is the lobster lover's dream. what's yours? come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently.

current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the

headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: all right david jackson joining us from the white house at the top of the next hour. on preschool wayne b. says

preschool creates noncrazy kinder and first gradys. my daughter teaches preschoolers. they enter as insane, ankle biters screaming and hollering and leave almost human. [ laughter ] >> wow. >> bill: can you agree with that peter. in on the keystone pipeline, why don't people tell it like it is. it will save the koch brothers $3 billion a year because they've got the refinery that will handle this kind of crude. i should have known! the koch brothers were behind this whole thing. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> bill: hey, good morning everybody. great to see you this morning. and well welcome to the "full court press" on this tuesday morning, february 19. coming to you live on current tv, all the way across this great country of ours. waking you up, helping you get to work. fix breakfast or whatever with the big stories of the day and of course, giving you an opportunity to sound off about what's going on by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. and among the things we're covering president obama is back in the white house. back to work today. he'll be holding a big announcement about -- at 10:45 this morning about what would happen if the sequester actually goes through on all of the important jobs that would be lost and the white house has also released its own version of

comprehensive immigration reform legislation. we'll get into that and a whole lot more. first, let's take a minute to get the latest. today's current news update from lisa ferguson who joins us from our studios in los angeles. hi lisa. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. some pro gun lawmakers are taking a new look at limits on high-capacity magazine clips. those clips are devastatingly common in mass shootings. the gunmen in newtown aurora and tucson carried magazines with 30 rounds of ammunition. adam lanza only switched cartridges twice when he killed 20 young children in newtown. now the high-capacity clips are under new scrutiny. amateur shooters have trouble switching magazines and christopher murphy said if lanza had to switch nine time instead of two, many of the newtown children would likely still be alive.

restrictions on high-capacity clips seem to have no chance of making it through congress. now conservatives say this is something worth discussing. and a california gun program is gaining attention nationwide. the state has the only program in the country that confiscates guns from people who bought them legally but later became disqualified. now, if someone commits a certain type of crime they're put on the state's armed persons database. they have collected more than 10,000 guns over sweeps over the last five years but 20,000 people are still in the database and the state says agents do their best but clearing the backlog would cost as much as $50 million. more bill up next. stay with us. going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know

that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: oh, yeah. presidents' day is over. time to get back to work. for those of you who didn't work yesterday, we did. good to see you today. thank you so much for joining us. here we are on the "full court press." this tuesday february 19. coming to you live from our nation's capital. most powerful city on the planet, washington, d.c. here we are. we are right on capitol hill. kind of quiet here this week. the house and the senate both in presidents' day recess. why? why? i 1999 is a good question. why does the congress get a full week off, in fact, the house took two weeks off for presidents' day? the president doesn't even get the week off right? he took a long weekend.

>> bill, you know they're hard at work in their districts. they're working the 9:00 to 5:00. >> bill: i take it back. they're out there meeting with constituents having town halls. uh-huh. no they're not! what a waste. we bring you up to date on the news of the day here in our nation's capital, around the country, around the globe and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. that's our toll free number. we'll also look forward to hearing from you on twitter at bpshow. and on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. the team, peter ogborn and dan henning. phil backert and cyprian bowlding, good morning guys. >> hey hey. good morning. >> bill: welcome cyprian bowlding back. yesterday, one of us had the day off. nice to have the full team here this morning. you know one of the craziest stories out there the last couple of days is this millionaire, this ceo so he's

flying first class. he gets alongside of a woman sitting there -- i'm pretty sure it was first class. she's sitting there with a toddler on her lap. apparently he was not the most well-behaved toddler on the plane. now, as a frequent flier i must admit i dread when i get on a plane, when i see women coming down the aisle with little babies, i dread the fact they could sit alongside of me. i'm talking about coach. i very seldom fly first. or in back of me or right in front or anywhere within ten rows right? they get ear problems. they don't know what to do. but this guy this woman she -- i guess -- is she an african-american, i believe? >> no, she's not. the baby is. >> the baby is but the mother is

not. >> bill: so he uses the "n" word about the baby and he hauls off and slams the baby. here's the mother, jessica bennett, telling abc news last night how it came down. >> and he put his mouth into my ear and he said it again. and i had to push his face away from me. i screamed. and this caused a commotion with other passengers because they got worry and they all stood up and wanted to intervene. at that point is when he hit my child. >> bill: can you imagine? he hauled off and slammed the child. he's been charged with assault i guess. and should be. >> yeah. >> he lost his job too. his company said we don't stand for those kind of values. you're done. >> we've all been there in terms of having a screaming child. >> bill: i wanted to slap my own kids. >> tell me about it. but i mean geez!

>> bill: hope they're not watching. >> i don't know what you do in had those situations but you definitely don't do what he did. >> bill: no. i mean totally lost it. i wonder how much he had to drink. i haven't heard about that yet. >> bill: might have had something to do with it, don't you think? hey, big flak down at the white house. the white house press corps the white house correspondents association of which i'm a proud member, not happy with the president's golf weekend. david jackson will join us from the white house to tell us all about that and then rich galen republican strategist will be along. he's head of mullings.com. we'll talk about what's happening. republican party kind of fractured these days. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> on this tuesday other headlines making news. it keeps piling on for oscar pistorius, the olympic blade runner now has steroid accusations to deal with which

of course aren't a big deal in comparison to murder charges but the world anti-doping agency says that it's become aware of reports stating that steroids were found in his home when he was arrested but he will wait for criminal proceedings to play out before opening an investigation to see if his olympic medal should be stripped for doping. >> bill: oh, wow. one sports scandal after another these days. >> bad for him. sad news out of los angeles the long-time owner of the l.a. lakers passed away yesterday. jerry buss dying at the age of 80. he bought the nba team in 1979, oversaw a winning ten nba championships and 16 attempts. highly revered by all who played by him. he was known for helping foster the success of greats like "magic" johnson kareem abdul-jabbar, kobe bryant and boyd howard. >> bill: jerry buss revered man in the community. great community leader and

unlike some other team owners we know around the country, i'm not talking about dan nightedder -- >> of course not. >> former presidential candidate and actor fred thompson is having trouble finding work. >> that's right. he ran for president. >> sat down with "the washington examiner" for an interview. said he auditioned for a part for the hit showtime series "homeland" but did not get it. he's keeping busy with some indy acting projects and a speech here and there but that's about it. >> bill: he made that commercial for that scam insurance operation right? >> yeah, right. >> bill: i think he's doing all right. 12 minutes after the hour now. yes, indeed. er the president of the white house correspondents association filing an official protest with the white house that the reporters were not given access to the president at all. didn't even get to see him the entire weekend. nor did he get to see the golf course down in florida. david jackson covers the white

house for "usa today." joining us on our news line this morning, david what's this all about? is this just reporters have nothing better to do than complain? >> i think it's a real issue. the president taking president's weekend off for a golf holiday in south florida. that's fine. i don't think anybody objects to that. the fact we don't get to see him for an entire weekend is problematic. it came to a head on sunday when a lid was called at 9:30 saying there is going to be no news today. lo and behold, three or four hours later, there was a message that guess what, tiger woods came down and played a round of golf with the president. i think that's what pushed people over the edge and prompted ed's statement. >> bill: the most famous golfer in the world playing with the president of the united states. what would have been wrong with like -- one photo? even if it weren't with tiger woods, with the other foursomes that the president played with? >> i don't know. i don't know what -- i guess

they don't want him on the golf course even though there are photos around that pools have been led. >> bill: when he played with clinton at andrews. >> he played with john boehner. when he's played with high-ranking officials or ex-officials, there has been pool access. i guess there was some concern about tiger woods. i've also detected evidence that a lot of the staff didn't realize tiger was coming down to play a round with the president and the whole thing was happenstance. there wasn't any time to make plans for pool coverage. >> bill: just -- listen, i'm with you right. i'm with our association. i talked to a couple of our colleagues down there over the weekend who said you know, they just -- they have taken to the floridian caught and golf club and they were put inside of a bus, sitting inside of the gate and that's where they stayed all day long. playing devil's advocate, if you know where the president is and

what he's doing why does there have to be a photograph of him? or why do the press have to see him actually? what's the argument? >> we feel like we're doing our jobs, i guess. interesting to see him. i think the real problem was the tiger woods incident. the suggestion was they were trying to cover up the fact he played a round of golf with tiger woods. >> bill: what's the white house response? what do they say? >> well, it is the president's private time. he can golf with who he wants to no obligation to let the press pool in. one thing i want to talk about bill, the lid was called at 9:30 on sunday. the only reason we found out about tiger woods was because a writer with "golf digest" is a member of that club and saw woods and obama. he started tweeting it. i guess that's the only reason we found out about this. >> bill: i was just reading he had a chance to talk to the president as he came off the driving range after getting a

little -- some tips from bruce harmon tiger's former coach right? and talked to obama about it. so this one guy had all of the access in the world. >> right. it got people riled up. sure, it is basically -- cameramen can get their photos. photographers can get video and the press -- the writers feel like they're doing their jobs. you just want to see the president when you're covering and the idea you go three days without seeing him makes. >> little anxious. one hand washing the other too. obama could -- i don't know if you've seen video of his golfing. he shows a terrible swing because the video is like two or three years old. they need new video of his golf swing. he would look a lot better if you ask me. >> bill: finally on this point. i want to ask you about a couple of other things, too. i read in the latest pool report, the last pool report from florida yesterday that the president came to the back of the plane and spent about ten minutes in an off-the-record chat with reporters.

was that like a kiss and make up session? >> i haven't got an read out on that yet. that's a difficult situation too, because the president has been known to come to the back of air force i off the record then the pool reporters are in that difficult position. do i just keep it to myself. i think it was a peace offering, if you will. >> bill: today, the president has a big event in the south court of the auditorium on what issue? >> sequester which is a week from friday. people tend to forget that february is a short month. on march 1st $85 billion in automatic budget cuts kick in split between domestic and defense programs. president obama is trying to put pressure on them to avoid that by agreeing to a debt reduction deal that involves tax revenues as well as spending cuts. today president obama will make

his case with a bunch of emergency responders, people who may lose their jobs. not only costing them their lively hosed -- livelihoods. the sequester might start on march 1st. what happens after that is anyone's guess. >> bill: david, it was reported this morning maybe late yesterday we know because you were there. as i was when jay carney told us that the president's going to be going to israel for his first visit there as president in march. it was reported yesterday that he is going to be -- he's going to receive the presidential medal of distinction. >> right. >> bill: from the israeli government and prime minister netanyahu. >> shimon peres not netanyahu. >> bill: but with all the criticism that president has not been a close friend of israel, is this -- an attempt on the part of israel to say let's mend

the relationships? >> i'm sure that's part of it. president obama gave president peres a medal of freedom. it is somewhat reciprocal. netanyahu, the elections didn't turn out for him as well as he wanted. he's in a little more of a difficult position domestically. i think he feels like he has to improve relations with obama. i think that's a large part of this trip. >> bill: he's got another problem this morning david. >> cries -- ice cream. >> bill: it has been reported that netanyahu loves pistachio ice cream. >> expensive taste i hear. >> bill: big uproar in israel. his family has a federal -- state provides -- an ice cream budget of $2,700 a year. doesn't seem like an awful lot of money. >> obama likes ice cream. may want to hold on to that for at least another month. >> bill: do some digging

today, david. you can report back to us on what the president's ice cream budget is. >> i'll try to check that out bill. >> bill: david jackson see you later, my friend. david jackson joining us from the white house. covers the white house for "usa today." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

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inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: hey it's 25 minutes after the hour now. rich galen the creator of great web site called mullings.com

will join us. republican strategist. he's worked for them all. worked for fred thompson, newt gingrich. now has his own web site. he will be joining us in studio for the next half hour. very excited to get his take on the news of the day on the republican side including the fact that sarah palin will be keynote speaker at cpac next month here in washington, d.c. one thing that we haven't talked about are gas prices. peter, you have something -- >> we're on twitter at bpshow talking about the transparency and the access to the president by the press. sabrina -- >> bill: which was lacking this weekend. >> sabrina says because the press couldn't get a picture of him and tiger he's too sheltered. fred wilder says nice to seat white house press corps in a ticesy. their bloated sense of privilege needs to be pricked once in

awhile. and walter says even the president deserves some privacy. we're on bpshow on twitter. >> bill: all of that is true. he's the president of the united states. the white house does have an agreement with the press corps hammered out years ago, there will be a small group of reporters, just a small group not the hoard or the herd, maybe six or eight right that, travel with the president everywhere he goes. if he goes to his daughter's basketball game, they go. they sit in the car. but they go and they see him maybe going in and out. just so for us, the american people, the eyes and ears are there. by the way, in case something happened, you kind of want them there. >> i find it particularly interesting that they maybe tried to keep his golf trip with tiger woods a secret. >> bill: it sounds like that's what happened. >> yeah. >> bill: i gotta mention it because people are talking about it. it is gas price. we get into this cycle. gas prices go up and suddenly, it is a national emergency.

we all talk about it. the sky is falling. what happens, the gas prices go back down again. you know that they will be but it is worth noting that gas prices now have gone up for 32 straight days. inching up. the national average now for a gallon of regular is $3.73. that is 43 cents more than it was a month ago. mark zandy from moody's says we should be used to this by now.% this is what happens. >> gasoline prices start rising this time of the year as refineries start to prepare for the summer driving season. there is a switchover in the additives in the gasoline. it is not unusual for gasoline to rise. they're rising more quickly than in the past. >> bill: here's where it will really get serious. >> if we hit $4 a gallon on regular unleaded across the country, that would do a lot of damage. nothing hurts more.

$4 would really hurt. >> bill: gas is already $4 in california and in hawaii. most experts say this is because refineries are switching over from winter to summer fuel. there is a refinery in new jersey that is shutting down. the hest refinery in new jersey. a lot of refineries in the midwest are going into midwinter maintenance. plus, demand for gas is up because more people have jobs and more people are work. you know what? here's what you know for sure, they're going to go down. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know

that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio an on current tv. >> bill: it is the day after presidents' day february 19, on a tuesday here. this is the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. the fair and balanced morning show. to show you how fair we are and how balanced we are we're pleased to welcome back to the studio, it has been a long time though, i must tell you. our fault, not his. >> you invited me before but it just hasn't worked out. >> bill: then it is your fault, damn it. rich galen republican strategist and the founder and creator and manager and -- >> bookkeeper -- >> bill: of mullings.com. great web site. m-u-l-l-i-n-g-s. certainly tilts right. >> tilts right? it is a pretty heavy lean to the

right. >> you gotta have a crutch on that side. >> bill: good to see you. >> thank you. >> bill: let's start. we've got so much to talk about on the republican side. let's start with sarah palin announced yesterday cpac says they're bringing her back. she headlined last year's cpac convention. why sarah palin? >> you know, fox fired her. >> the late, great lee at-water once described people who attended cpac with a hand growing out of their forehead. [ laughter ] it is showbiz. years ago four years five years, whatever it was doing a speech in the q&a section somebody said -- somebody said who do you think is going to run for president? i listed the people i thought. i didn't mention sarah palin. a woman in the front row says why didn't you say sarah palin? i said because she will never be

president. hee said but she is exciting. people want to hear her. they love her presentation. i said they said the same thing about elvis presley but he wasn't going to be president either. she keeps coming back from the dead. that's fine. i wouldn't have gone before and i certainly won't go now. >> bill: there's no harm done. it seems to me, you hear all of this talk about the republican party has to take a look at where they are and maybe what new directions they have to go in to broaden their reach and you know, she doesn't -- >> cpac -- i think cpac has found itself on the right-hand side of where republicans want to go. it may take them another year or two to kind of catch them and say oops, now we're so far out here that people -- other people are not going to come. because they don't need the votes, that's no longer the face of the party. >> bill: when you look at cpac, you're not looking at the

future of the republican party. >> may be look at c change. has a way with words. >> bill: on that point karl rove is a little concerned about where some of the more -- >> tea partiesque members might want to take the party. >> bill: he's seen with good the evidence that the tea party has been successful in primaries by nominating their people who then can't win in the general. >> we're minus six seats in the senate. there were six seats. it is 55-45. it should be 51-49 republican if we had legitimate candidates and prime ministers over the last two-cycles. the. >> bill: you have put up six of them. like a christine o'donnell and whatever. or sharon ingle in nevada. and mourdock and go down the line. karl rove has organized -- he's

established yet another pac just to focus on republican primaries which has some tea partiers and conservatives very upset. is this a smart move? >> here's what i suggested. i made it too complicated. the threat that the tea party makes to incumbent republicans because everybody's gerrymandered congressional seats to the point that if you and i are in next door neighbor districts, you have every democrat that's possible. i have every republican that's possible. because we can do it by computer. we can go house by house and trade -- so you're never going to get through other than in a primary. we're the tea partiers in the club for some legitimacy. if you don't vote the right way we'll come after you in a primary. you'll never get to the general. what my thought was let's lure them into doing that and let's find moderate republican candidates in primaries where that's going on and if the tea party candidate and the

incumbent split the right -- then our moderate might be able to sneak in and because it is a republican district, we might be able to rebuild a moderate base in the house. it is asking for a three-bang shot. >> bill: so there is another impact of this, isn't there that when you have republicans who are primaries they know they're going to be or they know they might be, dare we say lindsey graham, mitch mcconnell -- >> orrin hatch. >> bill: john cornyn, i'm thinking ones who are up, i've heard that john cornyn is asking ted cruz how should i vote on almost every issue. >> that's not true. he's the whip. he's telling cruz how to vote. cruz is a good example of somebody who did win. as far as i'm concerned as of right now, he's an embarrassment to the state of texas. where i've lived for a long time. for most of the '90s. i'm not a fan of her policies but you look at what's her

name -- >> bill: you mean from -- elizabeth warren. >> elizabeth warren. you look at the way she's at least acting. she's acting like a serious senator and ted cruz is acting like he's running for city council in dallas. >> bill: i talked to a couple of senators last week, ran into them at a local restaurant. they were just saying you know, if you look at -- let's take -- you mentioned elizabeth warren. i was thinking hillary clinton. when al franken -- have you heard from al franken? >> i had breakfast with him about four months ago. he lost a bet like 12 years ago. so he finally paid it off. he was a joy to be with and he's very serious about making sure that he's being taken seriously. so he does not want to be the guy with the cone on his head. >> bill: al is a friend. al has been on our show several times when he was running. we had al on the show. since that time and he knows this and we know it. he has not been willing to

appear or do any national interviews. keep your head down. that's kind of what you do in the senate to at least get to know your colleagues and get some -- >> unlike the house people forget this. they know this part because 100 members of the senate, 435 voting members of the house. but every bill has to be identical that goes to the president. that means 100 people in the senate have to do exactly the same amount of work as 435 members of the house. there is a lot more to do. somebody like ted cruz runs the risk of being shut out by his colleagues, by saying in you're going to act that way that's fine. you sit at the end of the bench and we'll put you in the game maybe ever but we're not going -- you're going to have to fight for press time because you're not going to get it by being able to introduce legislation. >> bill: when republican senators tell -- publicly say that ted cruz has gone over the line you know he's gone over the line. i want to come back to one final question on karl rove. so with all of the criticism that karl rove is getting do you still think he will go

through with this plan or drop it or be able to raise the money? >> all of those things are true. he'll be able to raise the money. he's perfectly willing to take the criticism because unlike some other people, guy that got fired from fox? >> bill: huckabee's got a job. >> you know who i mean. >> dick morris. >> bill: oh god yeah. your guy. i was thinking of -- >> your guy. >> bill: dick morris, the most amoral man in politics. [ laughter ] >> dial 1-800-lawyer. [ laughter ] >> unlike dick, it happens in politics. people still have great faith in his long-term strategic abilities. >> bill: do you believe in god? >> yes. >> bill: do you believe in the god of second chances? >> i believe in the god of tango dances. [ laughter ]

>> that's what i tweeted yesterday. >> bill: oh, did you? you know what i'm talking about. mark sanford former governor of south carolina is running for congress. he says god has forgiven him. he wants the people of south carolina to. here is the ad he released yesterday. >> washington's math doesn't add up. for years while many have talked i've fought to do something about it. i've cut spending, reduced debt and made government more accountable. more recently, i've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. but in their wake, we can learn a lot about grace god of second chances and be the better for it. in that light i humbly step forward and ask for your help in changing washington. i'm a mark sanford and i approve that message. >> bill: every time i hear that with that tone, i expect him to end with in the name of jesus, amen. [ laughter ] >> bill: can he do it? >> yeah, he can do it. he can come back from anything

in politics except ridicule. once you're the object of ridicule, it is really hard. i think this is going -- he may get into the republican runoff but i don't think he can actually get the nomination. i think that colbert's sister is going to end up in that seat. >> bill: whoa. from south carolina. >> she was a republican before. she changed parties to run. >> bill: is this on the strength of her brother's? >> sure. when you look at the numbers people of your generation, they get 80% of their news from colbert and the other guy, the daily show guy. >> bill: jon stewart. >> bill: peter is a south carolina guy. >> that is the newscast. sitting around watching us on tv is not what they're doing. >> bill: sarah palin, karl rove, mark sanford ted cruz, man, what a menu. >> you could write five columns a week. the way i feel about hagel and kerry. thank god for them.

[ laughter ] >> bill: this is red meat for your phone calls. 1-866-55-press. we'll be right back. >> announcer: radio meeting tell vis. the "bill press show" on current tv. guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

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(vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour here. next hour, we'll have a couple of reporters in from politico and "huffington post" cover the news of the day. visiting right now with rich galen, republican strategist and head of mullings.com. back to our conversation here and your calls in just a minute.

but first, a little shout out here. this is our segment we call listener shout out. where we signal out some listeners who have heard us talk about incomeathome.com. tried it out and have had a great success at it. today's shoutout goes to melissa. she felt she was working too little hours with too little pay, away from her kids too much. she decided to give incomeathome.com a try. today she reports she has doubled what she earned in her old job. loves being able to set her own hours, be home with her kids and earn extra money from her own kitchen table. so we're look for others that we can give a shout out to. the next one may be you. if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, sweating job security and working long hours at a job like melissa was that you don't like, do what she did. try out incomeathome.com. that's income incomeathome.com.

we want to give you a shout out next just like melissa. peter's following the social media, you know. mullings and all of those great sites. >> you can find us on twitter at bpshow at bpshow. about mark sanford, phil says if mark sanford wins, it will definitely prove that there is no god despite how many times he -- him or her. there you go. also we were talking about the transparency of the obama golf trip. brian brings up, the best presidential golf moment was w. we're going to do all we can to catch these terrorist killers now watch this drive. >> bill: that was early on. >> that's the equivalent of the president going to -- not calling libya on september 11th because he was preparing for a speech in las vegas on september 12th. that kind of stuff -- i have -- look, bill you and i have been around this town a long time. anybody who works in the white house complex works 127 hours a

week and any time they can get away from the thing, i'm for. i would rather they be fresh and have their minds clear than just exhausted and making mistakes. >> bill: let's talk about -- so you know, sara pail answer not the savior of the republican party. how is marco rubio? is he? >> well, he's -- >> bill: is he the savior of the republican party? "time" magazine cover. >> i don't think they need a savior. i think they need to realign themselves and give themselves a jethro gibbs smack to the back of the head. it is bad enough for a minority party. if we don't want to become a minor party, we have to do what everybody's talking about. you've gotta stop talking about people who don't look and act like me. white, 60 plus-year-old male. and invite them in. listen to their jobs. newt and i fell out of love when he ran for president. he used to say if you're going

to be the majority party by definition, the edges will move farther and farther apart. the edges on the right and the left have to agree to disagree but remain in the party. when i first came back in '96 to work with newt, i met with a fantastic guy who you knew, bill sweeney. who had worked for tip o'neil. >> bill: i know bill well. now head of ifus. i was trying to figure out if i could help make newt's time more efficient. how did tip spend his day? what are you kidding me? he spent the day keeping the northern democrats and southern democrats from killing each other. i used that saying they had majorities that were in the literates. the republican conference could meet in a phone booth after watergate. i think that's what the republicans have to do, mature into wanting to be a majority party so somebody like marco rubio is a good spokesman for the things he's a spokesman for.

if the republicans are looking for one person to cut through everything and be the savior, they're going to be disappointed. >> bill: so your advice to the party be to maybe rethink some of their policies? or to just get better messaging. >> no, it's policies. only so much you can do with messaging. i've talked to leadership staff members of the house. and the point that i've tried to make with them of both -- people -- either side of the republican party and i've said that if you're going to be in the majority, you have to take responsibility to help govern. if you want to be in the minority, that's great. you vote no and go out and play golf. >> bill: that's the opposition party. that's what the opposition party does. >> these guys are terrible. if you're in the majority as you are in the house, you can't just say no. you've gotta present alternatives that can actually get through. i think that now that 64, whatever it was member freshman class from two years ago now

that they've been in office for two years and they like having somebody get them coffee and all of that stuff, they're beginning to mellow a little bit and because they're relatively safe in their districts i think you're seeing some shift. and i think that's better for the country and better for the party. >> bill: now we're friends but so maybe i shouldn't do this but this is going to be the kiss of death okay. i think you're right. and i hope more republicans listen to you. >> i've gotta go. >> bill: right. >> this just got really uncomfortable, guys. >> bill: i think you have the right strategy for your party and with that, it will never happen. [ laughter ] rich galen good to see you. thanks for coming in. >> you bet. any time. >> bill: when we come back, i'll let you know what p.o.t.u.s. is up to today. that's president obama. >> announcer: on your radio an on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: yes indeed. president obama back in town, back in the mix. back at work. he gets a daily briefing today. at 9:45 a.m. then an hour later 10:45 he will be over in the south court auditorium. i hope to join him there. plan to. talking about the sequester which kicks in as david jackson told us at the top of the hour, kicks in on march 1 a week from

this friday. $85 billion across the board in cuts. the president will be joined by emergency responders representing thousands and thousands of emergency responders, tens of thousands around the country who could lose their jobs if the sequester is allowed to happen. then after that, at 11:30 this morning, jay carney will have his regular press briefing in the briefing room. we'll be joined by reporters in the next hour from politico and huffington post for this tuesday edition of the "full court press." hang around! lot more coming up.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: hey, good morning everybody. great to see you this morning. it is the "full court press" on this tuesday february 19. welcome to the program this morning. thanks for joining us. we look forward to hearing from you on our toll free line at 1-866-55-press. about what all the issues that we're talking about this morning mean to you and to your family and there's a lot going on. president obama is back from florida. back in the white house. back at work. this morning he'll meeting with emergency responders and telling the nation about the tens of thousands of emergency responders who could lose their jobs if the sequester kicks in as it is now scheduled to next friday march 1. the white house over the weekend also releasing its own outline for comprehensive immigration reform. and "the new york times" reporting growing bipartisan support in congress for a ban on those high-capacity magazines.

whoa! lots to talk about. we'll get into all of that but first, the latest. today's current news update. we go out to los angeles and say good morning to lisa ferguson. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. nancy pelosi is okay with the white house keeping american drone killings a secret. in response to a question from "the huffington post," pelosi says it all depends on the situation and the timing. and that the administration does not need to admit when it targets a u.s. citizen during a drone strike. republican rep mike lee is outraged saying any time the government executes a citizen it is a serious issue. and that congress should have a full accounting of her decision even if ultimately it's kept classified. hillary clinton will start giving paid speeches later this year according to an exclusive report from politico. the harry walker agency is representing clinton and she's likely to pull in six figures for each appearance. putting her among the best paid speakers in the history of the

circuit. but clinton will give some speeches for free depending on the cause and will sometimes donate the money to charity. and british petroleum is headed to court next week in a new case of liability over the deep water horizon spill. bp has already agreed to pay more than $30 billion in fines settlements and cleanup costs. next week's trial will wrap together hundreds of claims against bp to determine how much additional money the company has to pay according to the clean water act. bp says it is a safer bet to face a federal court judge than to settle outside of court and it is planning on spending less than $5 billion. more bill is up next. stay with us. going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know

that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: warn about the sequester which will hit march 1 unless congress does something about it. great to see you today. it is tuesday february 19th. this is the "full court press." we are coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours on your local progressive talk radio station of course. and on current tv. good to have you with us. welcome back to the work week. of course, probably most of you did what we did and worked a regular day yesterday. but a lot of people had the day off for presidents' day. good that you're all here this morning as we tackle the big issues of the day. whether it is happening here in our nation's capital or around the country or around the globe we'll not only tell you what's going on, here's what's unique

about the "full court press." we'll give you a chance to join the conversation. always a two-way street here. your comments welcome by phone at 1-866-55-press. give us a call on our toll free line. tell us what these issues mean to you and your family. or follow us on twitter and give us your comments at bpshow at bpshow or on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. the house and the senate both on vacation -- well, no, they're working at home in their districts. >> right. >> bill: every day because this is a recess. that's what members of the senate and congress do. and so that gives a little slack to those who cover the congress. like kim covers the congress for politico. she's a political reporter. good to see you. thank you for coming in. >> thanks for inviting me. >> your first visit to "full court press." >> very excited about it. >> bill: you told all your

friends. >> i did. announced it on twitter. >> bill: that's all we ask. you join the team press here. peter ogborn in studio with us as well as dan henning who is flying the 747 this morning. phil backert has the phones. cyprian bowlding keeps us looking beautiful and handsome on national television here. he runs the cameras. and it was announced we had been talking about it this morning, big breaking news in washington, d.c. the crazies are coming to town again. cpac invite the big stars from their extreme right wing point of view and their keynote speaker announced yesterday none other than sarah palin. bringing her back. yeah, fired by fox news. quit as governor of alaska. disastrous run as a vice presidential candidate. but she will be speaking this year like she was last year where she identified the real

enemy of the american people. it is environmental protection agency. >> and it is enslaving us really to these foreign dangerous supplies of energy instead of tapping into our own god-given sources of energy here underfoot. that's what the e.p.a. is all about right now. [ cheers & applause ] and you have to ask yourself when is the last time you saw the e.p.a. prevent constructing say a new government building? maybe instead of calling washington a swamp, we should call it a wetland. maybe that will slow down the growth of government. >> bill: she's got to go fishing on -- what's that river? >> the michigan gak. >> bill: maybe somebody should tell sarah palin the e.p.a. does not give building permits. that's not their job. when you apply for an addition to your home, you don't apply to

the e.p.a. e.p.a. if that's the best that the republican party has to put forward or cpac has to put forward, sarah palin have at it. god bless them. seungmin kim is here. first, we have the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday. michelle obama yesterday spoke out about something that a lot of people have been buzzing about. her new hairstyle. first lady went on rachael ray's talk show. getting her new bangs was her midlife crisis moment. she couldn't get a sports car and they wouldn't let her bungee jump so she cut her bangs. she also talked about her favorite movies going into the oscar weekend. lincoln, argo and beasts of the southern wild.

>> i think they should let her go bungee jumping. >> bill: sure. wasn't argo -- >> argo, lincoln and beasts of the wild. >> did you see any of those? >> i did see lincoln. >> that's the one i haven't seen. >> it is excellent. >> hundreds of people are searching for -- >> bill: i think argo wins. >> i think you might be right actually. >> go, dan! [ laughter ] >> bill: this is your two minutes. >> whenever you're ready. >> hundreds of people are searching for pieces of meteor in the euro mountains after last week's meteor crash hit russia. the less is found the higher price people can get for it. early estimates are that some of the fragments will fetch over $2,000 per gram. that's 40 times the price of gold. >> bill: that's amazing.

front page story in "the new york times" about russians running out and scrounging and finding little pieces of rock and there are plenty of willing buyers. >> there's gold in them thar hills. >> burger king had itself a whopper of a problem yesterday. the twitter account got hacked. made the company look like it had been bought out by rival mcdonald's. it then tweeted several obscene and ridiculous items before twitter suspended the account. mcdonald's said it had nothing to do with the hacking. burger king has not yet released a statement. >> that's a whopper of a problem. >> bill: that happened to us air last week. a big story that went out that american airlines had bought us air. >> boy these twitter hosts are getting out of control. >> bill: the president is having a big event at the white house this morning with some

emergency first responders from around the country. saying tens of thousands of these people like them around the country could lose their job if the sequester actually happened and it's due to happen because they postponed it for two months. due to kick in on next friday, march 1. and congress isn't even in town to work on it so how can we think that it's possible to avoid the sequester? >> i don't know if it's possible to avoid a sequester. it could give lawmaker a chance to work out a deal. some part of the sequester will kick in on march 1st. >> bill: members of senate, republicans particularly, maybe some democrats what is their idea that we -- like -- the cuts won't hurt as bad as some people

say or they just want to starve the beast? everybody -- leon panetta said this will be devastating to the pentagon. >> what you're hearing mostly from democrats is that we cannot let this happen. the cuts are terrible. this will hurt not only the first responders that you mentioned but food inspectors, fbi agents and -- >> bill: air-traffic controllers. >> everything that americans depend on. but you're getting this growing course from republicans saying we do need to cut government spending. this isn't the ideal way to do it but this -- it gets the job done if that's what it takes and that's what it takes. >> bill: they're willing -- so in terms of the military, "new york times" reported some 240,000 members of the army, maybe national guard -- would get furloughs. there are ships that are not being deployed these days. there are all kinds of -- cuts

to the pentagon, would be very severe. republicans who claim of being like pro military, pro defense. we support the armed forces. they're going to let this happen to the pentagon? >> i think a lot of the very defense hawks are saying no, we cannot let this happen to the pentagon but the general consensus -- not the general -- >> bill: the tea partiers more. >> broad ranging part of the republican conference and congress is saying we don't want these cuts. if they're avoidable that's great. but if it's -- we're not going to accept tax increase to be able to do it. if it has to happen, then they have to happen. >> bill: that would be -- so friday, march 1. you said something interesting that at least for maybe a few days. so what's that all about? >> i think it is similar to what you saw with the fiscal cliff. i think we technically did tip over the fiscal cliff because we passed december 31st. there having been no deal. i don't know if there's sort of

a pressure that once you start to see the economic effects and the air-traffic controllers having trouble doing their job or the fbi agents who are furloughed, i don't know if those effects would product congress to do something. but it remains to be seen. but also, at the same time, you've seen time and time again within the last couple of years once their backs are against the wall they come to a deal. it is not an ideal situation for both sides but they do find something. maybe that will happen. >> bill: the public outroar and the public backlash may be so intense they say uh-oh we better fix this. >> bill: you come over to the house and the senate. on the senate side, i want to ask you about ted cruz from texas. you inly elected -- newly elected, been there two months. >> already made its mark. >> bill: yeah. tea partier extraordinaire. he's already made his mark. what kind of a mark? >> he's been sort of -- he's

come into the senate very guns blazing, no compromising -- >> bill: loud, outspoken. >> maybe not necessarily to us members of the press. what we're hearing is that inside the senate, there is a tradition that freshman members are keeping their head down, do their work. but it's not what we're hearing from the senators about ted cruz. he's very -- definitely makes his opinions known in public. and in private. some senators are feeling kind of rubbed the wrong way about that. definitely in the cases of chuck hagel, he's definitely making his opinion known. >> bill: well, there are -- by the way, a contrast with elizabeth warren, for example who has really followed the model of hillary clinton al franken, keep your head down, you know, don't make a lot of noise. don't be a showboat. be a workhorse.

>> they know they have the star power, an audience looking at them. they really want to keep their head down even more and work hard. >> bill: right. with ted cruz, there are two republican senators at least that i can remember, both john mccain and lindsey graham came out publicly and said that they thought ted cruz had gone over the line with some of his questioning of chuck hagel. when your own fellow republicans call you to task, does that mean anybody to a guy like ted cruz? what does he say when reporters ask him about the criticism? >> i came to washington from texas to shake things up, not necessarily follow the rules set in place in the nation's capital. he is really going to represent his conservative constituent's interest and if that means going against members of his own party, that's what it means. >> bill: so partly because of his aggressive questioning but also because of chuck hagel and

john mccain, of course, and others even orrin hatch chuck hagel did not -- he fell one vote short. it looked like two votes short for confirmation in the senate. that's going to come back for a vote next week when they return. going to be any different this time? >> it will be different. i think the republicans have made clear they will let his nomination advance. what happened last week was that it got blocked in a procedural vote. it is not really a filibuster. we just want a few extra days to review his background review. his financial disclosure information and any other concerns that republicans have raised and so they made it clear they'll let the nominations advance next week then there's more -- obviously more than a majority of senators who will vote to confirm him. >> bill: so what was the purpose of this not confirming him or putting up a filibuster last week and then they come back next week and they vote the other way? what was the purpose of the

two-week delay? >> they say it is because they want more time to think over the nomination. >> bill: what's the real reason? >> it does look funny when one week it's okay. maybe a week -- it's not okay then one week later it's not. >> bill: with no new information. no new revelations or no new nothing, right? >> they say you know, the nomination cleared the committee. was on a party line vote. it got rushed to the floor. that took way too quick of a process. leon panetta is halfway out the door and the pentagon needs a leader. the democrats are saying you can't leave the defense department leaderless in this time of war and the budget cuts and everything else the military is facing these days. >> bill: is the congress really prepared to let these $85 billion -- this is a meat ax to domestic programs. and the meat ax to defense department -- from across the board. kicks in march 1.

is congress really prepared to let it happen? 1-866-55-press. more on the "full court press" when we come back here on this tuesday morning, february 19th. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the next wave of italians has come to america, (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the next wave of italians has come to america,

and the fiat 500 with beats audio is rockin' the block. the italian designed fiat 500. the bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobster's lobsterfest. with the year's largest selection of mouth-watering lobster entrees. like our delicious lobster lover's dream, featuring two kinds of succulent lobster tails. or our savory, new grilled maine lobster and lobster tacos. it's back, but not for long. [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. my favorite entree is the lobster lover's dream. what's yours? come celebrate lobsterfest and sea food differently.

we have a big big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy.

just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: right now seung min kim is with us from politico.

nice to have you on board. back to your calls at 1-866-55-press. we're talking about basically the unfinished agenda of this congress. now both the house and the senate out on presidents' day. recess, wouldn't you like to have one? >> must be nice. >> bill: ten days, two weeks. >> breaking news really quickly. this sounds like it is coming straight out of a hollywood month i have. armed robbers snatch $50 million of uncut diamonds from a brussels airport. it is being reported by the telegraph. a gang of robbers broke through a security fence outside of the airport and drove in two vehicles. they had automatic weapons with laser sites. were hadn'ted. they were masked. rolled up on to a brinks truck and took the diamonds and escaped through the damaged fence that they broke through. they, as of now have gotten away. $50 million. >> incredible. >> bill: inside job obviously, right? >> i would imagine they probably

had some help from somebody. if somebody comes up to you and offers you uncut diamonds today -- be aware. >> bill: they would have to know what time things were coming through. >> yeah. >> bill: seung, let's say hello to ed calling from pittsburgh pennsylvania. >> caller: good morning. >> bill: what's up? >> caller: well, i've got an objection about picking on one side or the other on this budget cliff or whatever they want to call it. i used to be a purchasing manager for the state of california for the unemployment office. >> bill: uh-huh. >> caller: $6 billion agency. now i'm kind of retired. and the fact of the matter is when you boil it down, you have to get into the nitty-gritty and take a look at the numbers. one day i walked into a staff meeting of executives and told them how fancy a computer do you need for people to play solitaire on? you don't need to replace them every three years. let's hold on to the corsicas and dodge k cars and then we can --

>> bill: ed, i see where you're going. i appreciate the call but seung the point is everybody knows there are places in government where you can cut. they've already cut a lot. but you have to be kind of selective in your cuts, right? >> this just goes across the board like a cleaver. there is no discretion or where it would be smart to cut and smart to leave alone. that's the problem. >> bill: this is not going into defense department saying you can use -- you can have a less expensive computer. no. this is just saying we're taking all of your computers right? no more computers. great to have you here. thanks so much. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside.

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour. here we go. it is the "full court press" on a tuesday february 19. good to see you today. thank you for being with us. laura bassett covers women's issues for "the huffington post." >> good to be here. >> bill: regular team here, of course including peter ogborn in studio with us covering the social media. and follow us on twitter at bpshow. so did you tweet before you came in that you were going to be on this morning? >> i didn't tweet. i'm sorry. i should have. it's early. it's early for me to be tweeting. >> bill: for our next segment we'll have -- that's rule number one. >> ouch. i'm in the doghouse. >> bill: what a way to start.

we have talked before about the violence against women act. it has made some progress to be proud of. passed the senate. what does it look like in the house? >> a strong bill passed the senate minus the protection for immigrants in the bill last year. but the bill that passed the senate would extend protections to lgbt victims of violence as well as native-american victims of violence on tribal lands and now it remains to be seen whether the house will take up the senate version. last year it seemed like republicans were against the senate version but boehner made a comment last week he may be open to taking up the senate version which is a huge deal and a big difference from last year. so we'll see what happens. >> bill: do you think if he allows the vote, it will pass the vote? >> i do. i think it will be narrow. i think there will be a lot of people voting against it, the heritage foundation came out last week with a bunch of bogus claims saying we're going to score it, if any republican

votes for it, it will be scored on your record. we think it hurts men. >> bill: this is jim demint. we expected it to go wacky far right and it already has. >> right. so it is definitely going to be a tough road in the house. i think that there are enough republicans who are feeling the pressure of this -- you know, war on women narrative that they're going to let it go through. >> bill: i would have to say you don't have to say it, maybe you can't say it, if the republican party is serious about proving that it's not -- that it is a changed republican party that's reaching out to broaden its base and appeal to blacks latinos and to women here's an opportunity to show you mean it. >> you can already hear it in eric cantor's rhetoric. he's been on the campaign to soften his image. he went on the house floor last week or the week before. was talking about i deeply care about women who have been victims of violence. i'm working hard on this.

kind of seems like eric cantor has something to prove. something is going to get passed. >> bill: it is worth pointing out the immigrants sadly aren't in this bill, as you pointed out. senator patrick leahy said that will be included in whatever immigration bill comes through. so if that happens that way then in the end we'll be okay. speaking of immigration this is a -- this is an issue that -- women have a lot of interest in, right? >> oh, yeah. >> bill: i don't know the percentage of men versus women immigrants but you're talking about these families, millions and millions of women correct? >> absolutely. yeah. they come here to have a better life for their children. almost always when you hear the stories. and you know, especially if you think about immigration kind of in tangent with vala, the problem is immigrant women don't report abuse because they're afraid of getting sent back to

their countries and they're afraid of going to the state authorities with anything because they're undocumented. so this kind of reform would allow them to have a pathway to citizenship. they don't have to let the abuser know. this is what i'm doing. it would be a huge deal for women in this country. >> bill: and the white house did -- there was a leak -- probably a deliberate leak. >> probably deliberate leak. >> bill: leaks don't happen in washington by accident. >> i guess what axelrod is saying is we circulated it to too many agencies. we didn't mean for it to leak. we circulated it too wide. who knows. >> bill: it is out there now. you have a white house plan for comprehensive immigration reform. you've got a group of bipartisan senators in the senate who have put forth an outline of what they want. another bipartisan group in the house is working on -- if you add those three together, it looks like they're moving in the right direction and it looks hopeful for comprehensive immigration reform or am i reading it wrong? >> it looks very hopeful.

i think it is number one on everybody's agenda right now. i think that obama really upset a lot of the republican senators by leaking that bill because they want it to come from them. they don't want it to come from the white house. this is their baby, particularly rubio. so i think that this leak does put pressure on them to move faster and get their own bill up there before his goes up. i would expect it soon. >> bill: the criticism that the white house should not be writing bills, i hear it -- the other side of it all the time. i forget now exactly what issues but issues they were dealing with in the first term. there was a lot of criticism from republicans in congress. well if the president cares about this, why hasn't he sent us a bill. >> exactly. >> bill: the white house's response at the time was it's not our job to write bills. it is yours. so now he does write a bill. oh no! >> dead on arrival. >> bill: he's usurping our territory. it is our job to write the bill. he's gotta take that certainly

with a grain of salt. where are we -- the president mentioned this in the state of the union. equal pay. at this point, are we still -- women still behind -- >> way behind. 77 cents on the dollar. not just that. it's not just that we get paid less for the same work. it is that typically female jobs just pay less than male jobs even if they're relatively equivalent, you know. so like a secretary, for instance would make a lot less money than a guy who is working the grounds at a college, for instance an administrative position. if the job is traditionally female, it makes less always across the board. so we need lots of reform to get women into science and technology jobs, to get women -- to shake things up a little bit. the problem is this is perpetual talking point. for obama for whoever that we need to -- he says his line is we need to make sure sure our

mothers, wives and daughters are getting equal pay for equal work. a, that's defining women in terms of their relations to men and b he's not doing anything on it. so i think that, you know, it is not entirely his place to be writing these -- there's not a whole lot he can do if congress isn't going to act. they have the paycheck fairness out there that failed year after year. no republicans will support that. so it is just kind of -- it is rhetorical at this point unfortunately. >> bill: it is another one of those issues like the universal preschool that he mentioned in the state of the union. which it amazes me it is even an issue. it seems to me it is no a no-brainer. men or women should get equal pay for the same job. it doesn't matter. >> you know what i've written a lot about the equal pay issue and men come on there and they comment on my articles that they're afraid that paying women more means paying men less. that's what they're afraid of.

>> bill: or they're afraid of losing their jobs. no? >> is that not how it works? >> i don't know. >> bill: yeah. that's crazy. finally -- not finally we'll take a break after this. but the other big issue immigration reform and it is gun safety. >> right. >> bill: if immigration reform is an important issue for women so is gun safety. >> absolutely. >> bill: for so many different reasons. >> a lot of women have guns. to protect themselves. a lot of women want to keep a handgun in the home. and the issue is not that those handguns are trying to be taken away. it is that you know, the high-capacity magazines the assault weapons that women generally don't have in the home to protect themselveses are trying to be taken away. and conservative groups like the independent women's forum are trotting out women like gayle trotter who are using the what if a woman is sitting at home and three to five men come into her place and she needs 15 bullet to spray at them.

well, you can't come up with one anecdote in which that's actually happened. you can't come up with one actual experience in which a woman has saved herself with that kind of a gun. it is smoke and mirrors trying to use these women to -- it is really shameful trying to play that cart. look, our women need protection. >> bill: are the voices of women out there for sensible gun safety measures? >> progressive women's groups like moms rising, national organization for women all of the big women's groups have come out in support of gun control and they are actively campaigning and using their muscle and their e-mail lists and getting women out there. i would say the majority of women support gun control. >> bill: i was at that hearing, senate judiciary committee hearing where the woman you mentioned gayle trotter came out testifying in front of this group i never heard of before called the independent women's forum who actually said flat out that every woman should have an ar-15 in her home to protect her and

her family. she told several anecdotes about women in their homes with their kids and an intruder came in and you know, one woman is in the closet with her kids, calls her husband, what should i do? he says shoot them and she opens the door, two guys, she shot them and killed one of them. but she was making -- telling these stories as if this is why we need assault weapons. sheldon whitehouse, senator from rhode island pointed out -- i think you mentioned earlier, in every case, the gun she mention and the gun we used in every single case was not one of the ones that would be banned by the assault weapons ban. >> that's right. >> bill: there were not weapons of war. >> she couldn't come up with one example of an ar-15 being used by a woman to protect herself. >> bill: this is a woman who is a spokeswoman for more women to have more guns. laura bassett covers women's issues particularly in the congress.

we've touched on a lot of them. your comments, questions welcome here as we continue on the "full court press." >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

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thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour here on the "full court press." tuesday morning february 19. good to see you today. great to welcome back in the studio, laura bassett covers women's issues particularly for "huffington post."

led by a wonderful woman, friend of mine, arianna long, long, long time, we go way back to california days. laura, we've got some people who want to throw some questions to you, are you ready for it? >> great. let's do it! >> bill: crossfire here on a tuesday morning. don starts us off from tampa florida. hey, don, how are you? >> caller: hey, bill. thanks for taking my call. >> bill: sure. >> caller: i'm a little annoyed actually against the union -- not so much the unions have the right idea like for the u.p.s., the post office, i'm in the pipe fitter's union. >> bill: good for you. >> caller: we all have widths for women and men. and they're a prime example of what -- the way it should be. it is about time maybe obama got out there and spoke about how the unions do this and maybe other people can -- we can be -- we're supposed to be an example you know what i'm saying. >> bill: good point. don, as you know, particularly

in the building trades, right it was a problem for a long time. but the building trades really stepped up and ode said we need to recruit women and train them the same as men. they can do the jobs. we have to pay them the same wages. a lot of people don't know that story. that's an excellent excellent point. laura, you've seen that on this issue, right? >> no, that's a really good point. i think obama's really -- shies away from talking about unions for some reason. i remember with the whole teacher fight in chicago, he was quite quiet although that was during campaign season so maybe now that he's in his second term, he'll come out more strongly with that. it is a really good idea. >> bill: it is interesting the last week, we had senator tom harkin from iowa on the show and he -- talking about the -- the morning after the state of the union. and he said it is great to talk about the minimum wage but it really should not be $9 an hour.

it should be $10.15 an hour and then linked to inflation. if you really want to get them out of poverty level. and the other thing he said it was great to talk about jobs. he never talked about the -- the president did not, in the state of the union talk about unions. >> he didn't. >> bill: he is supportive but he did not talk about how important it is, that they have every opportunity to organize and to recruit new members like the employee fro choice act which was a priority of his when he was running for president the first time and then it disappeared. he never did anything to push for that or to get a vote on that. >> i've been amazed at his reluctance to discuss unions at all. it is interesting actually. >> bill: it has created a lot of tension within the labor movement, i know. here's dennis calling from chicago. hey, dennis, good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'll try to keep it short. i want to make sure my comments aren't regarded out of naivete. i work in human resources at my

company. i do a lot of compensation work. and so i know for a fact that salaries and pay are very complex issues. a lot of considerations are taken into how things are structured, skill sets, length of service what people bring into a company. >> bill: okay. >> caller: i'm wondering when you quote that women get about 77% of what men get laura how is that calculated? is it apples to apples comparison? what kind of studies can you cite? trust me as a lifelong progressive who has never voted for a republican, i would like to know where to go to get this but when i look at my own company roster and the compensation i work i do, nobody is sitting around saying you know women get paid 77% less. in fact, we've got some pretty highly paid women at my company. >> bill: hey dennis, excellent point. take your answer on the air. laura, as one in the business, i don't know if you might have

some things you can cite right off the top of your head. we'll get together we'll put some stuff on our web site. >> that's the accepted statistic. i believe it comes from the bureau of labor statistics. you're right that when you say apples to apples, it's not 77 cents on the dollar forethe same jobs. it is just women compared to men like just basic comparing the total of their salaries. women make 7% of what -- 77% of what men make. if you factor in that women generally take lower-paying jobs than men do and go into lower-paying fields. women often go into teaching, for instance, while men go into science or engineering and those jobs make different amounts of money. it is not necessarily saying women get paid that much less for the same work but then there have been studies done and off the top of my head, i can't remember which organizations did them, even when you control for women and men in the very same job working the very same amount of time, women tend to make a

little bit less. so there's talk. sorry. >> bill: notoriously, walmart was paying women significantly less for the very same job of manager or salesclerk or whatever they happen to be. >> yeah. >> bill: still a lot of examples of that. i'll tell you what, i'm going to -- little homework assignment here. you know what i would do with a question like that, google it right away. i can't do it on the air. there are studies out there that document that. let's put a couple of them up on our web site for dennis and other viewers and listeners who may want to learn more about this. i'll tell you they keep you busy. always lots to write about. always lots to talk about. it is good that you take this time to come in and share it with us. >> thanks for having me. >> bill: when we come back, i'll have a quick parting shot for today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." [ woman ] our guests go crazy for lobsterfest. my favorite entree is the lobster lover's dream.

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>> announcer: the parting shot with bill press. should is the "bill press show." >> bill: well, you know, it is a slow news day when the biggest news is that members of the white house press corps of which i am one are not happy. i know what you're thinking. oh poor babies. do they want some cheese with that whine. in this case, i think the white house reporters do have a point. they're complaining about the president's golf vacation this past weekend. not that he took a golf vacation with some male friends or not even that he played golf with tiger woods. the complaint is that for the entire weekend, there was not one single picture of the president playing golf with any